Monthly Archives: August 2011

Seven Years to Sin by Sylvia Day

Posted on August 31, 2011 by TBRG| 2 Comments

Title: Seven Years to Sin

Author: Sylvia Day

Genre: Historical

The longer the resistance…

Seven years ago, on the eve of her wedding, proper Lady Jessica Sheffield witnessed a licentious scene no innocent young miss could imagine. Shocked, yet strangely titillated, she’d held her silence regarding scandalous Alistair Caulfield, and walked down the aisle as expected. But through years of serene, unremarkable marriage, Caulfield’s image remained burned into her imagination, fueling very illicit dreams…

…the sweeter the reward

Alistair ran far from the temptation of the prim debutante with the fire of passion in her eyes–all the way to the West Indies. As a successful merchant, he has little in common with the rakehell youth she knew. But when newly widowed Jessica steps aboard his ship for a transatlantic passage, seven years’ worth of denied pleasures are held in check by nothing more than a few layers of silk–and the certainty that surrender will consume them both…

Okay I will admit it I read this book for two reasons, 1) Mel and I had just spent a couple of days with Sylvia at RomCon and gotten to know her a bit including two uninterrupted hours at the airport on our way home 2) the cover just makes you want to pick it up and read it.

However once I got into the book oh my was I hooked. Alistair and Jessica are two very amazing characters. There is so much to say I’m not sure where to begin.

Alistair has had a thing for Jess for years. Ever since they had a moment and oh boy was it a moment, you have to read this scene to believe it. Jess however was married to his best friends older brother, and completely happy in her marriage. So he left to pursue his fortune. It is 7 years later and his best friend has just asked him to watch out for his brother’s widow as she travels to the Caribbean on his ship.  This puts Jess in his sights. For the first time the one thing that he has always wanted and not been able to have is within his reach and nothing is going to stop him from going after her with everything in his arsenal.

I loved Alistair, he is not the perfect hero. In fact when he reveals his past to Jess it wasn’t something that I was expecting in a hero. However it was Alistair and he owned it, in fact it made me like him so much more because of it. He’s had to work for everything he has, and he is very proud of that.

On the eve of her wedding Jess has a moment with Alistair. This moment gives her the courage to go after what she wants in her marriage, something that Alistair wasn’t expecting. Except for that one moment Jess hasn’t thought about Alistair in years. So when she sees him again for the first time she isn’t expecting the emotions that he invokes in her.

Jess is a great heroine. She loved her husband and as the year anniversary of his death approaches she knows that she needs to get out of London and re-discover herself. What she never expects is Alistair and the emotions that he makes her feel. As she works through her emotions and the expectations she has of herself she discovers that she is much stronger than she thought and that Alistair makes her stronger.

There is an amazing side story that will rip your heart out as well.

Overall I have to say that this is one of the best historical books that I’ve read this year. Sylvia has moved onto my keeper shelf with just this one book.

If you like characters that have depth and amazing strength to overcome some really crappy pasts than you will want to read this book.

Grade A

 

Posted in Historical, Review

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Good Girls Don’t by Victoria Dahl

Posted on August 30, 2011 by TBRG| 2 Comments

Title:Good Girls Don’t

Series: Donovan Brother’s Brewery bk 1

Author:Victoria Dahl

Genre: Contemporary

Too much of a good thing…

With her long ponytail and sparkling green eyes, Tessa Donovan looks more like the girl next door than a businesswoman—or a heartbreaker. Which may explain why Detective Luke Asher barely notices her when he arrives to investigate a break–in at her family’s brewery. He’s got his own problems—starting with the fact that his partner, Simone, is pregnant and everyone thinks he’s the father.

Tessa has her hands full, too. Her brother’s playboy ways may be threatening the business, and the tension could tear her tight–knit family apart. In fact, the only thing that could unite the Donovan boys is seeing a man come after their “baby” sister. Especially a man like Luke Asher. But Tessa sees past the rumors to the man beneath. He’s not who people think he is—and neither is she.

Luke Asher is a Detective inBoulder,COon a case of a robbery at a local brewery.  While at the crime scene he sees gorgeous brewery owner Tessa Donavan, who is the sister of his college buddy Jamie Donovan. Sparksfly between the two, but Tessa is warned off from Luke by her older brother, and he also tells Luke that his sister is still a virgin.  Things don’t look good for Luke and Tessa to get together.  Luke’s work partner is pregnant, and everyone thinks the baby’s Luke’s.  He’s also trying to out live the rumor that he divorced his first wife after she was diagnosed with cancer.  Things also go from bad to worse when both of her brothers are trying to protect Tessa from Luke.

When I first got this book I was very excited and curious to read it because I’ve read some of Dahl’s historical romances and really liked them.  I loved that this book is set inBoulder,COwhich is only 30 minutes from my home.  Here in CO we have tons of inside jokes aboutBoulder, and it was nice to read a book set in that location.

I really connected with Tessa at the beginning of the book – she was funny, cute and had a great relationship with her brothers.  I loved the scene where she and Luke are getting it on and he puts the breaks on because he thinks she’s a 27 year old virgin!   The chemistry between these two really makes this book a great read.  I do have to say that some of Tessa’s choices at the end of the book are what made me down grade my rating from an A to a B.  Basically she broke off things with Luke because of something he kept from her and throughout the whole book she kept a HUGE secret from her brother about the brewery.

Luke is a super good guy who just wants to protect his work partner.  By doing this, he shuts his mouth on issues and it sometimes makes him look like a jerk.  Everyone in his office thinks he’s the father of his partner’s baby, and he doesn’t deny it.  I was kind of confused by this at first, but it really played out well in the end.  Luke Asher really made this book for me.  Loved his character – he was super hot in and out of bed.

The writing style of Dahl is easy flowing and witty.  So glad I picked up this book, and am very excited to read the next book (Bad Boys Do).

Grade: B

Other books in this series:

Bad Boys Do (coming Oct 2011)

Real Men Will (coming Nov 2011)

Posted in Contemporary

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Archangels Blade by Nalini Singh + giveaway

Posted on August 29, 2011 by TBRG| 44 Comments

Title:  Archangel’s Blade

Series: Guild Hunter bk 4

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal

The severed head marked by a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts honed over hundreds of years of life compel the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past…but Dmitri’s need to discover the truth is nothing to the vicious strength of his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.

 Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face to face with the seductive vampire who is an archangel’s right hand, and who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality…the same vampire who has been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.

 As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting…and it will not stop until it brings a blood-soaked nightmare to life once more…

I have read every single one of Nalini’s book and loved them all, I have even been known to stalk her about certain books. I knew that Dimitri’s book was her next book and was looking forward to it. I wasn’t expecting what I got though. This is in my opinion her absolute best book. It will ripe your heart out, make you cry, and then put your heart back together stronger and more complete than it was before you read this book.

Dimitri is a cold hearted bastard. He knows it, and everyone around him knows it. You don’t spend a thousand years as the second to an archangel and not be. He wasn’t always this way, but in the previous books we never got a glimpse of that. We knew that there was a back story to him and Raphael some hint of a trauma with Dimitri but we never knew what.

Honor is a new character to the story and her story is one that is caught up in torture and fear. She was kidnapped and tortured by vampire’s for two months. When she is called to the Tower to work with Dmitri it takes everything in her to go. What she never expected was to begin to take her life back because of Dimitri.

I am going to be upfront with this review. I am not going to reveal a lot about these two because I think that this is one story that you have to read for yourself and watch and discover these two and how they compliment and complete each other.

It isn’t an easy rode for them. There is a lot of remembering on Dimitri’s part of his life before he was a vampire. Memories that he hasn’t had in a long time as the pain is to much. But these memories are essential to their story.

Honor has always felt that a part of her soul was missing. As she and Dimitri work to track down the person killing just made vampires and also those that kidnapped her, she begins to find the missing part of her soul and also heal from her captivity.

When I had read the very last line in this story the only thing that could think was that this is her best story. She took two very complex and damaged people and brought them together in a way that made absolute and complete sense.

If you have never read a single book by Nalini than this is a book that you should read. If you are a fan of hers and have been awaiting the story of Dimitri than you will not be disappointed at all.

***Only lucky commenter will receive a copy of the book that started it all Angel’s Blood***

Grade A+

Other books in this series

Angel’s Blood

Archangel’s Kiss

Archangel’s Consort

 

Posted in FF&P, Paranormal, Review

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WOW Sunday

Posted on August 28, 2011 by TBRG| 2 Comments

Not much WOW around here lately.

If you were to ask Heather her WOW would be to live where there is air conditioning and never go outside in August when it is 111; I happen to second that.

My WOW for the week, take moody 11 year old boys places where you can hear them laugh uncontrollably for 2 hours; makes all the bad days absolutely worth it!

Posted in WOW Sunday

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Winners

Posted on August 27, 2011 by TBRG| Leave a comment

The Winners of

Marianne and Wendy Mitchell

Please email us with your address so we can get these out to you!

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The Vampire Next Door by Ashlyn Chase

Posted on August 27, 2011 by TBRG| Leave a comment

Title: The Vampire Next Door

Series: Strange Neighbors

Author: Ashlyn Chase

Genre: Paranormal Romance

In this third installment of Chase’s lively, sexy, paranormal trilogy, we meet witch Morgaine, who is deathly afraid of the dark, and her vigilante vampire neighbor Sly, who has his reasons for hating sunlight. Sly needs Morgaine’s magic to help heal a broken fang, but with further help, and sometimes hindrance, from the wacky apartment dwellers around them, they may become each other’s last hope for a normal life…

 

I got this book mainly because I’ve read the other books in the series and wanted to see what happened next. I have to say that if I wasn’t reviewing this series I probably wouldn’t read it. While it was a really entertaining read it wasn’t a book that grabbed from the very first page and made me want to keep reading. It was a book that I could read a couple of pages of and put down and forget about until I went back into the room where the book was and saw it, so I would pick it up and read some more, but the book never left that room.

Sly is a vigilante vampire that has been sleeping in the basement of the building owned by his daughter’s husband. He refuses to accept charity and as he has no source of income he can’t pay for his own apartment. Merry his daughter comes up with a way for him to live in her old apartment without offending his pride. When he breaks a tooth he heads to Morgana the resident witch for help. He never expected what happens from then on.

Morgaine has a deep fear of leaving her apartment, she has been making strides however in the endeavor to be able to leave her apartment. It doesn’t help that she lives with her cousin who is a social butterfly and thinks that all men want her. To earn money they are sex by phone operators. When Sly comes to her for help there is something about him that speaks to her.

When Morgaine tells Sly that she knows of a Vampire that may have the cure for vampirism they embark on a journey to end this curse that was given to him the night Merry was born and his wife died.

What ensues is at times flat out hilarious because of the situations they find themselves in, throw in the vampire that has been trying to find Sly ever since he made him to make him his lover, a very pregnant Merry who just wants her dad to be happy and in her life, a couple of witches and you have this book.

Like I said previously this was an okay book for me. It could have been that I wasn’t in the mood for this type of book and may pick it up in six months and love it, but at the time of this reading it was just okay.

Grade B-

Other books in the series

Strangers Next Door

The Werewolf Upstairs

 

 

Posted in Paranormal, Review

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New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb

Posted on August 26, 2011 by TBRG| 4 Comments

Title: New York to Dallas
Series: In Death
Author: J.D. Robb
Genre: Mystrey


The number-one New York Times-bestselling author J. D. Robb presents an intense and terrifying new case for New York homicide cop Eve Dallas, one that will take her all the way to the city that gave her her name-and plunge her into the nightmares of her childhood.

When a monster named Isaac McQueen-taken down by Eve back in her uniform days-escapes from Rikers, he has two things in mind. One is to pick up where he left off, abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. The other is to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago.

I love this series, while admittedly there have been books that I thought were good, there have been others that I thought were excellent and have re-read several times. This is one of those books.

Isaac was Eve’s very first collar. She was a beat cop when she literally stumbled on him and his atrocities. It was at this case that she comes  into Feeney’s view and he see’s something in her. Setting her on the path that she was made for.

Issac has escaped from prison and is taunting Eve. If she doesn’t follow him to Dallas well then some really bad stuff is going to happen. She has no choice so she and her expert civilian consultant head there. It is in a word a cluster F*%$ for her.

Things that she thought that she’d dealt with come racing to the surface, the cop shop looks and smells nothing like hers, oh and the feds are involved as well. There are some tense moments with Roarke, but what else is new with these two right?

There is a secondary story line that I won’t reveal anything about that I thought was written the only way it could be and make complete sense for the people that are involved in it. If it had been written any other way it would have been false to these characters.

This is one of those books where I will tell you that if you like Eve and Roarke you HAVE to read this book. In fact I have placed it in the top 5 of my favorite books in this series.

Grade B+/A-

Posted in Contemporary, Review

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Too Wild to Hold by Julie Leto

Posted on August 25, 2011 by TBRG| 1 Comment

Title:Too Wild To Hold

Series: Legendary Lovers bk 2

Author: Julie Leto

Genre: Harlequin Blaze

HOT NIGHTS IN THE BIG EASY

In the sultry heat of New Orleans, a masked man stalks his next prey…private investigator Claire Lécuyer. In order to protect her, FBI agent Michael Murrieta–the descendant of a real masked legend–must go undercover at her hiding place…a sensual retreat, where decadence and sin beckon from every room.

Once immersed in this world of pleasure, Claire and Michael find themselves teased by the languidly sexual environment–and their blazing attraction to each other. But even as they “mask” their true identities, it’s too late.

Now Claire and Michael are caught up in the danger…and their desire. And the longer they stay in the sensuous world, the more dangerous it is!

Claire LaCuyer is an ex-cop turned Private Investigator.  She’s on a case to find a run away mom who frequents sex clubs.  Claire’s also on the look out for a stalker whose possibly raped other women and now has Claire in his sites.

FBI Special Agent Michael Murrieta is on the case to catch the stalker/rapist.  Michael follows Claire to the “Plantation Ball” (aka, sex party) with hopes of protecting Claire and catching the stalker.

I love Harlequin’s Blaze series books – most of the authors that write for this line are very good and the books make for a nice quick read.  This book earns the right to carry the “Blaze” name.   Let’s just say that there is a scene at the party where the hero and heroine are voyeurs to a threesome!  The chemistry between Claire and Michael is off the charts hot, their love scenes together are worth reading the book alone.

The storyline about the stalker was good; it kept me reading to find out what he was going to do.  I would say the best part about that storyline is Michael’s brother, Danny.   I was really intrigued with the Murrieta Family Ancestry, the “Famous Lover Legend”.  I just wish there was more of it in the book.

Overall this is a great summer beach read and I will be reading more books by Leto.

Grade:  C+

Other books in the Series

Too Hot to Touch

Too Wicked to Keep (coming Sept 2011)

 

 

Posted in Contemporary, Review

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Serendipity by Carly Phillips

Posted on August 24, 2011 by TBRG| 3 Comments

 

Title: Serendipity

Series: Serendipity bk 1

Author: Carly Phillips

Genre: Comtemporary

Faith Harrington was the classic girl of privilege–until her father was convicted of running a Ponzi scheme and then her marriage crashed and burned.

Now Faith is back in her hometown, hoping for a fresh start. But her father’s betrayal has rocked Serendipity – and not everyone is ready to welcome her with open arms. Then she runs into her teenage crush — the dark, brooding Ethan Barron. Ethan, no stranger to scandal himself, never imagined he’d own the mansion on the hill, much less ever again come face to face with Faith–the princess he once kissed senseless. The chance meeting reignites the electric charge between them.

Still, when Ethan hires her to redecorate what was once her childhood home, Faith is sure that getting involved with the town’s notorious bad boy will only lead to trouble. But her heart has other ideas. And so do the townspeople of Serendipity …

I have enjoyed all of Carly’s previous books but I have never been able to choose a favorite book and while I have liked them all I haven’t found that one book. That is until this book.  From the moment that I picked this book up I knew that this book would be my favorite book. There is just something about this story that I loved.

Ethan is a man that has made mistakes, some of them small and some of them so big that they effected not only his life but that of his siblings as well. When his parents are killed by a drunk diver on their way to bail him out of jail he can’t face his brothers and so he disappears. Now he is back to fix what he broke, his family.

I have to say that from the moment that I started reading Ethan I was in love with him. He is the tortured hero that wants to fix his mistakes with his family. He will take the punches and insults that are flung at him. So long as they eventually let him back in to make amends and to become a family again.

Faith is back in town to start her life over after what her father did to ruin not only her life but countless other lives. What she never expected was to find Ethan her teenage fantasy back in town.

When Ethan and Faith meet again the chemistry that they had as teenagers is still there, and them some. Because they are no longer teenagers, he the bad boy and she the good girl. Now they are adults and can act on the feelings that they have for each other.

These two come together when they have no one that they can turn to and need each other. Their slide into love is so sweet and natural. It felt like you were in the book watching it happen. There was no major angst just two people that wanted the best for each other.

Watching Ethan and Faith discover who they are as a couple and as a family is a pure joy to watch. I really liked watching Faith take back her life and live it the way that she wanted to.

The issue with Ethan and his brothers is a continuing arc of the series so I won’t give anything away about that, especially as I think that it is one of the best parts of the story.

If you like Carly and have read her other books this is nothing like them and yet exactly like them if that makes any sense. I for one can’t wait for the next book to come out.

Grade A

Other books in the series…

Destiny (c0ming soon)

Karma (coming 2012)

Posted in Contemporary, Review

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Body of Sin by Eve Silver

Posted on August 23, 2011 by TBRG| 19 Comments

Title: Body of Sin

Series: Otherkin bk 4

Author: Eve Silver

Genre: Paranormal

Once the favorite son of the Lord of the Underworld, Lokan Krayl held enviable privileges and powers. Powers that led to a devastating betrayal—murder.

Resurrected by his immortal brothers, Lokan is still trapped in purgatory. He has no way to contact his family. He has no answers. In order to find the truth about his death and who killed him, he must escape his prison. And there’s only one way out: through the twelve gates of his eternal enemy, Osiris.

But Lokan has help. Bryn Carr, the woman who duped him once before, is his beautiful yet unwanted guide. She’s been sent by his brothers to aid him. She’s his last hope. Lokan must place his fate—and that of the mortal and immortal worlds—in the hands of the one woman he can never trust.

This is the first book of Eve’s that I have read, and it is the last book in the series. I probably should have gone back and read the other books in the series before I started this one, but I didn’t, and I have to say that I don’t think I missed to much from not reading the other books first, other than I know who killed Lokan and why.

Brynn and Lokan and their story does a lot of shifting between the present and the past to explain their history and why they are essential to each other. Both of them have kept huge secrets from each other as to who they are in truth.

I do have to say that after reading the blurb on the back of the book and the book I find that the blurb doesn’t tell the truth because Lokan trusts Brynn as he trusts no one else, because of who she is to him. When he discovers she is his guide he is one part furious and one part happy.

There is so much that I want to say about this book but anything that I do say will be a major spoiler for the book and if you have read my reviews in the past you know that I don’t do spoilers. So I will just say this..

I absolutely LOVED this book, and will be getting the others just as soon as I can so that I can read them. My favorite line in the book comes from Lokan and I can’t remember the context but he grumbles something and then says or thinks emo shit I loved that. It made me laugh.

If you have read the other books in this series I can tell you that you will love how this book ends. If you have never tried Eve Silver and like paranormals then you will definitely want to try out her books.

We have an exclusive expert for you as well…

The Underworld

I would die for her.

Dana. My daughter.

I did die for her. But I can’t remember exactly how or why. I know that I let someone kill me in order to keep my daughter safe. Which makes no sense. The thought drifts away, and with it all other thoughts and hopes. This is my eternity.

I float in a place that is nowhere and nothing. I have neither shape nor form. The agony of that—of losing myself and having lucid flashes where I know what has been done to me and what I have lost—is indescribable. The moment fades, and with it all knowledge.

Who am I? I don’t know. Fear chases through me.

An instant—or a century—later, I blink and stare straight ahead. I’ve been in the dark so long, I’ve forgotten what it is like to know light. Except there, a pinprick, so bright it hurts. Not just my eyes. My arms, my legs, my heart.

Pain drags awareness with it. Flash to a memory: I have three brothers. I must warn them, save them.

Urgency fades to confusion. Then I have only darkness.

A vortex of pain brings me back, incredible suction, like a giant vacuum pump pulling on my limbs. Words, foreign and confusing, are on the tip of my tongue. I hear myself speak as though the sound comes from a place far away. “Guardian, watch over my body. Let it not be slain. May it not be destroyed forever.”

Hot pokers skewer me. Knives slice my flesh. The pain is more than I can bear, tearing me apart, barbed talons digging into my bones. The not knowing is even worse, and with the pain come embers of understanding. I reach for the agony. I welcome it. Embrace it. Because the knowledge that comes with it is the ultimate prize.

Memories fly at me, bright sparks and snaps. I know now what I am. Soul reaper. Son of Sutekh. Eternal. Immortal. I cannot die.

But I am dead. Murdered. By Sutekh. My father.

My daughter is at risk with only the blood oath of my murderer to keep her safe.

I look down at my hand—my hand—and know that somehow I have form once more. I can think only that my brothers have found a way to reunite my body and soul. How? I do not know, and at this moment, it doesn’t matter. I clench my fist, reveling in the sting of my nails digging into my palm.

There is no way to put words to the emotions that rush through me. Relief, rage, regret, and so much more. I am no longer dead.

I am alive. My name is Lokan Krayl, and I am alive.

Grade B+

**We have 2 copies of this book to giveaway. Open to Int’l**

Other Books in the Series

Sin’s Daughter (this is a pre-quel to the series)

Sins of the Heart

Sins of the Soul

Sins of the Flesh

Posted in FF&P, Paranormal

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